Classes started this week at many high schools around the state and with it, the terror of going to the cafeteria. Not the food, but the hazing. It is all but universal. And it's worse if you're by yourself.

For a student with intellectual disabilities, the dangers of the cafeteria, the hallway and myriad dark corners of high school can be overwhelming. That's where Best Buddies comes in.

The international organization matches mainstream high school students with special education students in one-on-one partnerships. The buddies do things together like pizza parties or movie nights, but mostly, it's about daily things like having someone to walk to class with or sit next to in the cafeteria or to commiserate with about the mean gym teacher.

Best Buddies International was founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, herself a founder of Special Olympics and lifelong advocate for children with disabilities. This school year will mark the first time the program will be in Hawai'i schools. Retired Maui businessman Mike McCormick volunteered to set up the agency in Hawai'i. Or more correctly, he was drafted by his sister, Maureen, who played Marcia Brady in the beloved 1970s TV show "The Brady Bunch."

"A year ago, Maureen called me, she was at a Red Sox game, and she said, 'I'm here with the folks from Best Buddies and they want to set up a branch in Hawai'i. Will you help?' " McCormick said.

McCormick had retired from his last business venture, a Maui cookie and ice cream export business. His two sons had gone through high school on Maui, thus he knew his way around both Maui and Baldwin high schools, so that's where he started.

McCormick worked with special education teachers in both schools and recruited mainstream students interested in being trained in the program. McCormick also secured funding from the Maui County Council. Last month, he took nine students and two faculty advisers to the Best Buddies International Leadership Conference at the University of Indiana in Bloomington.

"The kids say their lives have been changed forever, that this is the best thing they've ever done," McCormick said. "This teaches them to be community activists and leaders all through their lives." Now comes the part where the training meets reality. McCormick is planning "matching parties" where mainstream students and students with intellectual disabilities will get to meet each other and see if they click, have similar interests and temperaments, things like that.

"It changes their life when they have a 'regular' student that they can call a friend."

In the future, McCormick envisions movie nights where he picks everybody up and takes them to the theater. He says for many kids with intellectual disabilities, just getting away from their parents for an evening is a liberating experience.

For McCormick and his sister, the involvement in both Special Olympics and Best Buddies is personal.

"I have an intellectually disabled brother. He's 55 now and he really advanced through this Best Buddies program, so Maureen and I can give first-hand experience about this," he said.

McCormick is starting with his home island of Maui and hopes to eventually expand the program to schools around the state.

"Something happens when kids realize that they're loved and liked," he said. "Their learning capabilities vastly improve."

For more on Best Buddies, go to its Web site at www.best buddies.org or contact Mike at michaelmccormick@bestbuddies.org or 808-874-6846.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.